Khojaly Massacre: One of biggest and bloodiest tragedies of 20th century
On the eve of February 26, 1992, the world witnessed one of the biggest and bloodiest tragedies of the 20th century.
Armenian armed forces with support from the former USSR's 366th motorized infantry regiment attacked the town of Khojaly in Azerbaijan, and destroyed everything stand on their road.
Once the assault began , nearly 2 thousand residents tried to flee from the area and reach the Azerbaijani controlled town of Aghdam.
They were told that if they evacuated Khojaly they would be granted safe passage. But the promised passage was nothing but a ominous trap for hundreds of innocent civilians.
The fleeing people were ambushed and either killed by gunfire from Armenian military posts or captured near the villages of Nakhchivanly and Pirjamal. Others including women and children mainly died from frostbite while wandering in the mountains
During the Khojaly Massacre, a total of 613 residents were killed, burned alive or tortured to death.
106 of them were women, and 83 were children...
After 26 years, the fate of 150 civilians still remains unknown.
On February 26th, 1992, bodies were piled up on top of one another. They were tortured, crippled, and left unrecognizable.
The town of Khojaly was burned down and completely destroyed...
Undoubtedly, what happened in Khojaly was the largest massacre of Nagorno Karabakh war, and one of the most brutal acts against innocent civillians in the history of humankind.